BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
Somehow I managed to life a full and normal life for a good twenty nine year run without sitting down with any of the Star Wars movies. Yes, that’s right. I never saw ANY of the old “classics”. It wasn’t that I was against it, but it just never felt right. The characters, one-liners, and nonsense I’ve taken in over the years about the movie weren’t THAT impressive to me. Also at the same time everyone and their mother would make references to the franchise or randomly praise it. The nerdy folk would obsess over it and the casual non-nerds would still show these movies a crazy amount of love.
I never saw the appeal. It just looked hokey and too cheesy for me. I’m not too jaded for a hokey or cheesy movie, but it just didn’t look like my cup of tea. I can’t pin point why, but it just didn’t strike me all that amazing. Plus, there seemed to be a lot of work to put into being a fan. After years of hearing super fans ramble about all the different species of characters and all of the crazy details I just assumed it was too consuming. I already have my own things to nerd out on and devoting my brain to another world seemed like too much. Over the past few years I’ve taken a slight pride in the fact that I’ve not seen these movies. I wore my anti-Star Wars establishment badge with honor.
Then I eventually got tired of fighting it. I love film and the idea of not seeing what many consider one of the best franchises of all time is silly. I didn’t just decide to watch and jump into it. I dwelled on it. I knew the new trilogy is a prequel to the original three films so I wanted to explore the idea of when and what to watch. I wondered if I should watch the movies in order of release date or episode number. 99% of the world saw the old ones first and then went into the new ones afterwards. I wondered if I should give myself a different “first impression” as most people.
Eventually, I stopped over thinking it and just watched the damn movies. Here’s a brief review of each movie after FINALLY watching them after all these many years….
Star Wars IV: A New Hope
The first movie was interesting. I knew who a lot of the characters were, but I really didn’t know their relations or connections. There is so much going on. On top of enjoying this movie for the first time, it was like a pop culture refresher course. Jokes about Star Wars, references in movies and TV shows, and tons of little details stood out of my because of hearing them in other places. Every single time the words “darkside of the force” were said in the movie my brain instantly went into a verse or two of Method Man’s “Bring The Pain”, tons of Kevin Smith movie references make sense now, and Darth Vader’s voice is Simba’s dad! These are just the little things that stood out. There are literally a billion and four more to mention. I’m glad I watched this because it really changed my opinion. I never cared much for Mark Hamill or Carrie Fisher. I’ve seen them in tons of cool projects over the years, but it just always seems like there is some kind of “hey it’s Star Wars people!” magic whenever they appear in anything. Both seem cool and all of that, but I just never had that. Hamill’s Luke Skywalker is awesome and likeable. He’s easy to cheer for. Same for Harrison Ford’s Han Solo. Ford rocks it and is full of charisma. Solo’s interaction with Chewbacca is really fun. That’s another thing! I can actually say I know that Chewbacca is a Wookie and that the little robot is R2D2 and the big feminine English one is C3PO. If you had asked me the difference a week ago, I’d have slapped you and ran away. The visuals are stunning. You can say what you want about the narrative and story, but set design and direction is pretty damn epic. Between taking in the outstanding visuals and the storyline I think I blacked out a good portion of this just staring at the screen. It had a classic vibe to it similar to a “Wizard of Oz” or something else “iconic”. You can easily see the visual influence this movie had on special effects and big scope projects. By the end of this, I’m fully into it. It just took a while to process everything that was going on. It was better than I had imagined. I was always stand-offish with these movies, but I gave in and dug it. I do think I’ve missed my super-fan boat. I’m never going to be “the Star Wars guy” but that’s cool with me. I will re-watch this movie in the future, I promise. And it won’t take 29 years…
9/10
Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
After not getting too much into the first one, I went into this one ready to get caught up in the magic. Luke has to decide if he should keep training or go help Hanz, Leia, and his friends. It seems simple enough, but there is plenty of stuff going on here. The development in the story of Luke and Vader grows to a peak. I got to hear the iconic line “Luke… I am your father” in actual context for the first time. I’m still pretty sure I prefer Chris Farley saying it into a desk fan in “Tommy Boy” though. But to be fair, I’m seen “Tommy Boy” about fifty times and “Strikes Back” just this once. This movie was so easy to get lost in. I think that aspect of it is why it’s so loved and revered.
9.5/10
Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi
This is my favorite Star Wars movie. Everything that was build up in and created in the first two movies all come to a nice conclusion here. Pretty much all the major loose ends are tied up with this movie making it all seem all that much more epic. I’m sure there are little things that I’m missing out on, but the broad strokes created in the movie are clearly defined by the end of this movie. We understand things we were hinted at in the first movies while getting a great standalone story on its own. I’ve heard the mentions of “Ewoks” in the past, but I can finally put a look to the character race. Those little guys were awesome. The ending was actually surprising. In my head I always thought it ended with Luke killing Vader and hooking up with Princess Leia. This scenario is wrong for a few very clear reasons, but that’s honestly what I had thought. I didn’t know of the redepemtion at the end, the actual brother/sister thing, that Hanz and Leia hook up, that Chewbacca was a bad ass, that Billy D. Williams had THAT big a role in this series, and like thirty more random things of note. The one thing that stood out was that at the end we saw a “vision” that included Hayden Christensen. That was strange. Overall, it was a really amazing movie and a great wrap up to the original trilogy. If this movie had sucked I don’t think people would have been so crazy for the entire shebang.
9.5/10
Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace
People will mock the idea of an “origin story” all the time now. Why doesn’t anyone complain about the fact that Anakin/Vader gets a whole trilogy as his “origin story”? I enjoyed the ride and story, but let’s not be hypocritical folks. I really enjoyed this movie. The kid they had to play young Anakin was a great little actor. It was also cool to see a lot of people I’m very familiar with in this movie and part of the franchise. I knew Natalie Portman was part of the series, but I didn’t know her role was THAT important to the story. It was cool to see Obi get his start and Qui-Gon was bad ass. My biggest complaint here is that I didn’t want to see Liam Neeson go. His presence in the movie gave it an anchor. No matter how weird, lame, or whatever the movie got you could go back to him and rely on his character’s sensibilities and the actor behind it’s huge talent. Darth Maul was cool. I don’t think he had nearly enough backstory to be a real character of substance, but he looked awesome. I didn’t even hate Jar Jar Binks. I know that people and long-time fans HATED this character, but he was fun. Some characters are going to be annoying. That’s life. The dialog was probably the worst part of the character though. Really, there’s not much to complain about. Lil’ Vader was a little bad ass.
8.25/10
Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones
I like Ewan McGregor, but his Obi-Wan was a bit tame. There just didn’t really feel like there was any life in the character. In the original movies, the character had a presence of importance. In this trilogy he’s just sort of there. The character gets involved with big moments, but there wasn’t much to get into. You can understand why Anakin wants to do more entertaining and exciting things. Obi-Wan is a square. I wonder if Kenobi had let Anakin have more fun and let loose a little more if he’d not have went full evil. I guess I’m saying they should have treated their Jedi like the Amish treat their “coming of age” young adults. Just one man’s first impression and first thought. This movie was the weakest of the new trilogy. Anakin goes through some serious drama and you can start to see his anger and rage come out more. It ends when Anakin and Obi get their asses kicked by Dooku and Yoda comes and chases him away. The bad guy runs away… that’s the end. Still it somehow felt like a really fulfilling experience because you know more is yet to come. Still, this is probably the weakest Star Wars movie of the six.
7.5/10
Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith
Shit starts to get real here. Anakin is really starting to show his “darkside”. He goes nuts on Dooku right off the bat. He’s vengeful and takes no prisoners, which is not very Jedi of him. Yoda and the other Jedi leaders start to question if Anakin is “ready”. Meanwhile Amidala gets knocked up and Anakin gets fully brainwashed by evil. This is where Anakin makes the full transformation to Darth Vader. It’s kind of really bad ass. I loved how this movie put a nice bow on the whole first trilogy and completely sets up what goes on in the next trilogy. The writing here and story scope is downright outstanding. This was a really fun ride. I know people hate on the newer movies, but they were a lot of fun. The first trilogy is obviously better, but the newest one wasn’t bad at all. All in all, I want to watch these all again sometime in the near future.
8.5/10
What is YOUR favorite Star Wars movie? What’s something I should go back and pay more attention to?
|
